2014: The Year in Review

World Screen Weekly looks back at the biggest media stories of 2014

Of all the shifts we saw in the media business last year, perhaps none were as transformative as the wave of merger-and-acquisition activity that took place throughout 2014, at every level of the content business.

In the pay-TV arena, Comcast announced it was acquiring Time Warner Cable; AT&T clinched a deal for DTH giant DIRECTV; Sky consolidated its U.K. operations with Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland; Bonnier took full control of Nordic operator C More; and Liberty Global expanded its European operations with the purchase of Ziggo in the Netherlands.

In the channels space, Viacom International Media Networks snapped up Channel 5 in the U.K.; Discovery Communications assumed control of Eurosport; AMC Networks became a joint-venture partner in BBC America; and Sony Pictures Television took over British channels operator CSC Media Group.

On the digital front, Disney acquired Maker Studios; ITV invested in Believe Entertainment Group; SoftBank Internet and Media bought the online video destination DramaFever; ProSiebenSat.1 Group nabbed a stake in U.S. MCN Collective Digital Studios; RTL Group took a controlling interest in StyleHaul; and VICE Media picked up A+E Networks as an investor.

And in content production and distribution, there seemed to be new deals every other week. The biggest is just beginning to take shape, with Endemol, Shine and CORE coming together under a single entity. That deal followed Discovery Communications and Liberty Global acquiring all3media. Warner Bros. Television Group acquired all of Eyeworks’ businesses outside of the U.S. Meanwhile, a slew of large content outfits made numerous strategic investments in 2014 in a bid to secure access to top-end talent. MGM purchased a stake in Roma Downey, Mark Burnett and Hearst Entertainment’s One Three Media and LightWorkers Media. BBC Worldwide invested in Lookout Point. Endemol bought the drama-production outfit Artists Studio. ITV Studios made a number of investments, including in Leftfield Entertainment.

Last year also saw what could be the beginning of a pipeline of Asian money in Hollywood, as Japan’s SoftBank Corp. shelled out $250 million for a stake in Legendary Entertainment.

Amidst all this there were two megadeals that didn’t happen: 21st Century Fox’s abandoned bid for Time Warner and the Publicis-Omnicom merger that was nixed.

The other big story was the continued evolution of content-consumption habits—and what that means for broadcast, pay-TV and online platforms. Aereo, the Barry Diller-backed company that garnered acclaim and ire for its service, which delivered broadcast signals online, filed for bankruptcy last year after losing its legal battle with broadcasters. Redbox and Verizon shuttered their online service after it failed to gain traction. Netflix, meanwhile, continued to surge in popularity following its high-profile content investments. All eyes were on the company’s massive European expansion last year, and 2015 will see the OTT platform moving into the already crowded Australian landscape. The streaming market is also heating up in other territories, among them Canada and China.

The ascent of online platforms certainly has pay-TV operators on edge, as cord-cutting fears were realized in the U.S., with concerns the phenomenon may soon be taking hold in Western Europe. Embracing TV Everywhere was a mantra for pay-TV players across the globe, with some platforms, among them HBO, planning stand-alone OTT services.

As on-demand viewing continued to take hold across the globe in 2014, the year also saw that live TV still has the power to draw in massive audiences. The World Cup generated record ratings in a number of markets, and the 2014 Super Bowl drew more than 111 million viewers, more than any other TV program in U.S. history. In addition to watching live TV, viewers spent a lot of time talking about those events on social media platforms, with the World Cup breaking global records on Twitter. And it wasn’t just sporting events that drew fans to social media sites—popular shows like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Scandal and others became must-watch-live events because of all the second-screen engagement happening at the same time.

So what are we keeping our eyes on in 2015? The impact of last year’s mega consolidation will certainly be fodder for conversation in the months ahead. And PwC expects the M&A activity to continue in 2015, projecting a move to more “bite-size” transactions versus the massive deals we saw last year. Year-end ad forecasts were all positive, but the start of 2015 has certainly seen fears about the health of Europe’s economies. Asia, meanwhile, appears to be booming, with continued developments in China and India, and healthy forecasts for emerging markets like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. OTT is expected to continue to reshape the content business around the world over the next few years. Indeed, the number of consumers watching TV and video content on multiple screens is expected to surge from 5.6 billion in 2010 to 11.32 billion by 2020, according to Digital TV Research.

We’ll be following these stories, and more, in World Screen Newsflash and our other publications throughout the year.